Make Your Content More Applicable to Customers

Content is key to digital marketing. Great blog content can get consumers to stay on and read your site, and potentially become converted to your products.

The key is designing blog content that’s highly applicable for consumers. SEO can ensure that search engines will help you gain the exposure you seek, but if your site lacks relevance or quality, Google can actually penalize your site rankings.

It’s easy to say that relevant and applicable content is essential to marketing strategy, but developing that kind of material is of course much harder. The term “relevant” can be hazy and mistaken for a stylistic gimmick instead an effective tactic to grab readers’ attention.

If you truly desire increased conversions, increased followers, better search rankings, and greater profits, some of these strategies will help you make your content more valuable to readers.

Understand User Intent

Search intent will always be one of the key components of effective SEO. Rather than build a list of keywords and strategize trending topics, you should focus on relevance.

Marketer and writer for Search Engine Land Nate Dame says, “The user intent of a keyword is the goal of the user typing the search query, and it typically falls into three categories: Do something, know something, or go somewhere. In fact, there’s often more than one intent per query.”

To understand the user’s intent, you need to learn the nature of his or her query. What compelled the consumer to type this search query? How could your content respond to the questions?

In what ways might you attract search queries with your keywords and content? When you can define the customer’s intentions for searches, you can shape your content around them with greater skill.Answer Specific Questions and Problems

Consumers go online to get answers to questions every day. If your blog posts can answer common questions not just adequately but in depth, you’ll readily gain followers and potential customers.

“Your ability to helpfully answer critical questions not only assists your audience, but it also helps your SEO because search engines view sites that give satisfying answers as more valuable,” says Dan Steiner
of the Content Marketing Institute. Answering consumer questions through your blog is one of the easiest ways to direct your content toward customer intentions.

If you’re a math tutoring service, for example, you could answer the question “Who invented the periodic table?” or “Why do we need algebra?” Such questions may be common among members of your target audience, and if you provide answers through your blog, you’ll develop a stronger connection with your customer base.

Make Content Timely

“Marketing’s biggest conundrum is delivering the right message to the right person at the right time,” according to an article by Mark Sherbin of UberFlip. “Your content marketing could use an infusion of timeliness. You just need to stay tapped into what’s trending with your audience.”

The timing of content means more than you might think. It can refer to the time of year, current events, or industry news that might spark your buyers’ interest.

Most consumers have no use for an article about lawn care in Minnesota in the middle of January, for example. It’s not relevant or applicable to their current circumstances, so you’re less likely to draw their attention.

As a rule of thumb, you should seek a balance between evergreen articles that can be useful at any time of the year and articles that address a specific time frame and set of circumstances.

Strong Headlines

About 80 percent of people will read your headline, but only 20 percent will read the rest of your content. This highlights the importance of strong, compelling headlines that invite consumers to engage with your content.

Numbers, attractive adjectives, calls to action, and keywords can make stronger headlines for your blog posts. When you write a headline, try to feature a question, an answer to a question, a frequent problem, or another relevant and applicable fact to draw attention.

You may be surprised by how your engagement jumps when you write headlines that more closely apply to your target audience.

More applicable content is key to attracting customers. As you observe these basic principles in your content, you will experience higher engagement and greater attention from visitors who are more likely to purchase your products and services.